An Executive member of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Alhaji Isa Ozi Salami has sounded a note of warning to Nigerians who are in the habit of writing petition against public officers just for the fun of it or for the purpose of vendetta.
Ozi Salami, who represented the chairman of the Commission, Barrister Ekpo Nta at the formal launching of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) at Eko Hotel and Suits today, said that such false peddlers would no longer be allowed to go scot free.
“If you accuse any public officer of corruption and the commission investigates only to find out that the officer is innocent, we will prosecute you (the accuser).”
The ICPC representative particularly addressed journalists and online practitioners, whom he cautioned against falling into false peddlers just so that they would attract traffic to their sites.
Ozi-Salami was happy that professional journalists and editors have now come together to form a common front to sanitise the system, even as he tasked them to continue to respect the original tenets of journalism.
He recommended to the online publishers to be whistle-blowers on corruption without being unnecessarily sensational.
This was even as the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, and the Chairman of Zinox Group, Stan Leo Eke, emphasised the need for the online publishers to carry out the business with all sense of responsibility and commitment to journalism.
Adesina and Eke spoke also at the launching GOCOP.
Adesina said the government of President Buhari knows the importance of online journalism hence it is passionate about the standardisation of its practice.
In a speech he titled: “Let your light shine,” the President’s spokesman said that the nation cannot do without online publishing despite the realisation that it can lift up or pull down an administration.
He said the change that was witnessed in the country in the last elections had a chunk of the support from online publishing, even as he said that online today has been ridden by the good, the bad and ugly.
According to Adesina, practitioners have a great task of correcting the lapses noticed among online publishers by continuously doing peer reviews.
He said that due to the challenges with online news platforms, people still do not trust them, adding that those who make use of online news platforms, take in the information provided but still wait till the following day for the “traditional media to validate it.
“That is the challenge the online media must overcome.”
Adesina said among other challenges are concocted stories and the use of foul language, adding: “People believe that operating online gives them the liberty to use uncouth language.
He advised on peer review and that the practitioners should be ready to defend any falsehood they write.
“Those who see online publishing as licence to do what is not right should be ready to pay for it. This association should able to do a separation. Bad coin tends to drive good coin out of circulation.”
On his part, Eke, who was the Guest Speaker, said that in this age and time, no one can avoid online media.
He said that about 29 years ago when he launched desktop publishing, he told those who cared to listen that it was either “you are in it or out, but yet a lot of people still do not understand that online publishing, and by extension business, has come to stay.”
Eke said the future wealth of the country lies online, stressing that with the distress in the economy, Nigerians should not be blind to the future wealth.
He said that a lot of people took exception to his comment during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan that the failure of the government to pay attention to online publications was going to cost them the election.
He said the greatest fear was that if the Jonathan government returned to power, he may not be allowed to live peacefully in the country again, adding: “a lot of people forget that creating wealth is not about being in a particular location but what you have in your head.”
He said the administration forgot they rode on the back of the online media to come into power and they paid for it, adding: “President Muhammadu Buhari might be analogue, but he used the online to get elected.”
He advised the Buhari administration to pay attention to the education sector not minding what it will cost and also work with major telecommunications service providers to provide Nigerians free internet service. [myad]
